This is what the Lord says to me:"Go, post a lookout and have him report what he sees.When he sees chariots with teams of horses, riders on donkeys or riders on camels, let him be alert, fully alert." And the lookout shouted, "Day after day, my Lord, I stand on the watchtower; every night I stay at my post.Isaiah 21: 6-8

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Monday, August 31, 2009

LONDON [MENL] -- Sudan was said to have secretly acquired combat vehiclesfrom Britain.

A British executive and former aide have been prosecuted for sellingmilitary vehicles to Sudan. The two men, who pleaded guilty on Aug. 20, weresaid to have illegally sold 15 Swedish-made Hagglund BV206 armored personnel carriers to the Khartoum regime.

The following is from a brand new blog of unconfirmed veracity, and claims that his report came from the Middle East News Line Cairo branch, but I cannot trace it back to its source, however, we will be reading their output overtime- Shimron Issachar

Algeria Expects Imminent Surrender Of AQIM Agents

CAIRO [MENL] -- Algeria has been preparing for the imminent surrender of six senior Al Qaida operatives.

Security sources said six cell commanders of the Al Qaida Organization in the Islamic Maghreb were conducting negotiations for their surrender to Algerian authorities. The sources said the two sides were discussing the prospect of amnesty or reduction of any jail sentence for the insurgents.

CAIRO [MENL] -- Al Qaida has overseen a network that operates in Spain and has targeted neighboring Morocco.An indictment of suspected Al Qaida insurgents have disclosed plans by an Islamic network to conduct attacks in several cities of Morocco. Theindictment, relayed to the Court of Appeals in Sale, focused on theso-called Abu Yassin cell, aligned to the Al Qaida Organization in theIslamic Maghreb and which was said to have shuttled between Spain and Morocco.

It is important to discuss which AQIM leader was part of which activity, as each of the four AQIM groups are highly autonomous. They work together sometimes, share inteligence, but are very likely to operate independantly. Though recently depelted in battles in the Sahael, the different groups are back to conducting independant ambushes in their own territories

Silobreaker's has a great set of connnection maps I am reposting here.

Thanks Able2Act

-Shimron Issachar

Description: AQIM is an Algeria-based Sunni Muslim jihadist group that originally formed in 1998 as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), a faction of the Armed Islamic Group, which was the largest and most active terrorist group in Algeria. The GSPC was renamed in January 2007 after the group officially joined al-Qa?ida in September 2006. The GSPC had close to 30,000 members at its height but the Algerian Government?s counterterrorism efforts have reduced the group?s ranks to fewer than 1,000.

Since the 1990s, the group has focused most of its attacks on Algerian security personnel and facilities to achieve its primary goal of overthrowing the Algerian Government and establishing an Islamic caliphate. Following its formal alliance with al-Qaida, AQIM expanded its aims and declared its intention to attack Western targets. In late 2006 and early 2007, it conducted several improvised explosive devices (IED) attacks against convoys of foreign nationals working in the energy sector. AQIM in December 2007 attacked United Nations offices in Algiers with a car bomb and in February 2008 attacked the Israeli Embassy in Nouakchott, Mauritania, with small arms.

AQIM mainly employs conventional terrorist tactics, including guerrilla-style ambushes and mortar, rocket, and IED attacks. The group added the use of suicide bombings in April 2007, with attacks against government ministry and police buildings in Algiers that killed more than 30 people. AQIM leader AbdelmalekDroukdal announced in May 2007 that suicide bombings will become the group?s main tactic. The group claimed responsibility for a suicide truck bomb attack that killed at least eight soldiers and injured more than 20 at a military barracks in Algeria on 11 July 2007, the opening day of the All-Africa Games.

AQIM operates primarily in northern coastal areas of Algeria and in parts of the desert regions of southern Algeria and northern Mali. Its principal sources of funding include extortion, kidnapping, donations, and narcotics trafficking.Leaders:AbuMusab Abdel Wadoud (2007)MokhtarBelmokhtarMus'abAbuDa'ud ((surrender in July 2007))KamelBourgass (Imprisoned (England))Observations: 2007: Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb is trying to expand its attacks beyond Algeria, drawing on a rising number of recruits from all over North Africa, thus threatening regional security, but also security in Iraq and eventually even in Europe.

In Morocco and Tunisia, the number of volunteers looking to be trained in GSPC camps has steadily grown since 2005.

Compilation by Silobreaker

Although Silobreaker has relied on what it regards as reliable sources while compiling the content herein, Silobreaker cannot guarantee the accuracy, completeness, integrity or quality of such content and no responsibility is accepted by Silobreaker in respect of such content. Readers must determine for themselves what reliance they should place on the compiled content herein.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Since the Isle on Mann began to allow the Nasreddin Companies to reestablish banking, imports and export without sanctions in 2007, They came back and specifically asked to allow their Dmocratoc Republic of Congo company to be added to the list of companies free of sanctions.In addition, TBVD suggests they may be reestablishing an office in Istanbul.-Shimron Issachar

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

THis Great article in Wikipedia is being challgned for its lack on neutrality, which means it will soon be altered or dropped form the record - therefore - I will post it here for the record before it changes or disappears -Shimron Issachar

ONLF was formed after the defeat of Somalia in the 1977Ogaden War. ONLF systematically recruited WSLF members and replaced WSLF in the Ogaden as Somalian support for the WSLF dwindled and finally ended in the late 1980s. By 1993 ONLF fully consolidated its position among ethnic Somalis in Ogaden. After the Mengistu regime fell, the ONLF joined the government but then left it when the Meles government launched its crackdown against the group in 1993 for advocating substantial autonomy or independence, both of which were permitted under Ethiopia's new constitution. [5]

The ONLF announced elections in December 1992 for the Somali District Five in Ethiopia, and won 80% of the seats of the local parliament. ONLF nominated the candidates for the district's presidency and vice-presidency and the Executive body and the parliament elected them in a majority vote. ONLF elected officials ruled the territory until the end of the charter period. Afterwards, the Ethiopian government pushed for a constitution since the former was a transitional period. In addition to ONLF there were/are other parties including the SPDP, which eventually won more seats and became politically dominant. The Ethiopian government was then accused by ONLF of suppressing its members, while ONLF was accused of killing other Somali politicians and elders.

The ONLF continues to operate in the Ogaden as of 2006[update]. The Ethiopian military has stepped up its actions against ONLF following the organizations stated that it would attack the Malaysian oil company Petronas, which plans to extract oil from the Ogaden Basin. Even though there are some developments including a new university in the Somali state region, new schools, hospital and Somali language television programs, full development has been restrained in the area because of the fighting between ONLF and government forces. Because of the nomadic nature of the natives and to the ONLF insurgency, the Ethiopian government is said to spend very large share of its budget for the infrastructure development of the Ogaden region although it gets proportionally very low tax revenue from the locals.[6]

In 2005 Ethiopia proposed peace talks with ONLF. ONLF accepted on the condition that talks be held in a neutral country and with the presence of a neutral arbiter from the international community, but the talks broke down due to Ethiopia's insistence that the two parties meet directly in a location in or around the Horn of Africa. ONLF became a part of the Alliance for Freedom and Democracy on May 22, 2006 but the alliance has not achieved any progress since its creation.[7]

On 12 August2006, 13 members of the ONLF were killed and several commanders were claimed captured as they crossed into Ethiopia from Somalia.[8] The ONLF repudiated this claim, stating that it was intended to reassure prospective oil prospecting companies from Malaysia and China that Ethiopia is in control of the Ogaden territory.[9]ONLF rebels practicting Salah, Muslim daily prayers[edit] Ogadenia confusionThe ONLF mostly recruits from the Ogaden subclan, which constitutes roughly half of the regional population.[10] Some maps generally label the area or, in some instances, the entire Somali Region with "Ogadēn".[10][11][12][13] However, many other Somali clans and sub-clans reside in the area, and animosity between the pro-ONLF Ogadenis and other Somalis in the area remains very deeply rooted.

The Ethiopian government has exploited these rivalries by arming local Somali militias to fight the ONLF.[10] Yet, the ONLF also claims ownership of other clan territories and uses the word "Ogadenia," igniting clan hegemony accusations from other Somali clans.

Yet, some Darod Somali clan community members have complained that other Somali clans are getting over-represented in the regional government. [14] Writer Mohamed Mohamud Abdi states that the territory has been under occupation since the Scramble for Africa, and that the inhabitants have been unable to choose their own name for the land.[15][edit] Border issues

The nomadic lifestyle of Somali people have led to their occupation of disproportionally larger territory than other ethnicities in the Horn of Africa who have more population than Somalis, especially the neighboring Oromos. Small and big conflicts have occurred between Somalis, Oromos and Afars in the tense border regions for many centuries.

The Somali region of Ethiopia, often labeled Ogaden, also used to be known as Hararghe in the pre-1991 map of Ethiopia. The pre-1991 map showed Somalis occupying a large part of today's northeast Oromia while the post-1991 map shows the Ogaden region occupying Oromia's pre-1991 Bale region.

Ogaden nationalists have also complained that Dire Dawa city part of the Somali state and various towns including Maeso, Bardoda, Baabili, Fanyaanbiiro, Jinacsani and other regions were incorporated into Oromia during the transition period by the Oromo Peoples' Democratic Organization (OPDO). [16] Some Oromo liberation fighters believe a large chunk of Ogaden's territory belongs to them. [17][18][19]

In February 2009, 300 people were killed and over 100,000 people displaced during a conflict outside the border town of Moyale between an Oromo clan and a Somali clan. [20][edit] Effects on Ethiopia and the Somali Civil War

On November 28, 2006, the ONLF threatened that it would not allow Ethiopian troops to stage into Somalia from their territories.[21]

On December 23, the ONLF claimed to have attacked an Ethiopian column near Baraajisale heading to Somalia, destroying 4 of 20 vehicles, inflicting casualties and driving the convoy back.[22] But no independent sources confirmed the attack.

On January 10, 2007, ONLF condemned Ethiopia's entry into the War in Somalia (2006-present), stating that Melez Zenawi's invasion of Somalia demonstrates that his government has been an active participant in the Somali conflict with a clear agenda aimed at undermining the Somali sovereignty.[23] However the Somalia government thanked the Ethiopian government for its assistance in Mogadishu.

According to the Chicago Tribune, "As of 2007, human-rights groups and media reports accuse Ethiopia -- a key partner in Washington's battle against terrorism in the volatile Horn of Africa -- of burning villages, pushing nomads off their lands and choking off food supplies in a harsh new campaign of collective punishment against a restive ethnic Somali population in the Ogaden, a vast wilderness of rocks and thorns bordering chaotic Somalia".[25]

However the United Nations said the reports of aid blockade were completely wrong. The United Nations' WFP said it "does not consider the government is blockading the Somali region" and said that distributions of WFP food are under way in all vital regions. Yet, the UN also said that military operations in the area have restricted commercial trade and the movement of aid, which could lead to a humanitarian crisis.[26].

A tightly restricted and monitor tour by western journalist in the embattled region on the invitation of the regional administration reported on more alleged crimes by the Ethiopian government. A report by a Newsweek reporter detailed how Ethiopian military troops stormed a village southeast of Degahabur, accused the villagers of sympathise with the ONLF, then razing the village and torturing and murdering many of the inhabitants.[27].[edit] Abole Raid, subsequent conflict

Most of the Ethiopians killed in the attack were daily laborers, guards and other support staff. Some members of the Ethiopian security officials were also killed during the surprise attack however those killed by the ONLF included 30 civilians, the ONLF attack was perpetuated as the ONLF has a policy of not allowing the Ethiopian government to extract resources as this will not be shared with the impoverished and suppressed population of the Ogaden, the Ogaden is largely a marginalized region as rebels have battled successive governments claiming discrimination and most recently crimes against humanity this was backed by a human rights watch report into alleged abuses.[31]

It was the most deadly single attack by the ONLF.[32] On April 27, Ethiopian government spokesperson reported that ONLF rebels had detonated a "grenade," killing one person who was attending a funeral of family member killed during the prior attack.[33]

Shortly after the attack, the Ethiopian Army launched a military crackdown in Ogaden. The latest action of this crackdown resulted in the death of foreign relations chief Mohammed Sirad at the town of Danan as he met with other ONLF members.[34] Reportedly this has led to the ONLF splitting into two factions, with one group allied to current ONLF chairman Mohammed Omar Osman, and the other led by senior leader Abdiwali Hussein Gas, who appointed Salahudin Ma'ow as the new ONLF chairman and declared that he will "bring Mohammed Omar Osman to court".[35][edit] Somali deaths

In May 2007, a grenade attack by ONLF rebels in the Somali region of Ethiopia claimed the lives of at least 11 Somalis. [36] During a national holiday ceremony held at the Ogaden town of Jijiga, the grenade thrown at the podium of the stadium also wounded Somali regional president Abdulahi Hassan Mohammed in the leg. Bereket Simon, an adviser to Prime Minister Meles, blamed the ONLF as well as Eritrea since it arms the ONLF. However the ONLF denied the accusations. [37] The bombing triggered a huge stampede in the stadium which led to the death of around six children.[38] Various Somalis, who are native to the Ogaden region, have always blamed the ONLF for killing their own people and assassinating Somali leaders.[39]

The war that began since the devastating attack by the ONLF in early 2007 has caused widespread humanitarian crisis. The violence has also hampered international locust-control efforts which observers say is a growing threat. [40][edit] Somaliland

The ONLF has been accused of targetting Somalis in the autonomous region of Somaliland. Some Somali civilians belonging to clans from Somaliland have been killed along the border and inside Ethiopia. [41] According to Sudan Tribune, the ONLF has been accused by local somalis of "laying mines, burning villages, attacking development projects and intimidating Somalis who do not support its cause." [42] The ONLF denies these accusations. According to the Somaliland Security Force, it has intercepted ONLF rebels who were crossing borders toward Ethiopia. It said around 1,200 ONLF recruits receiving training and graduating from Kalena and Addis Maskal training camps in Eritrea were captured as they tried to pass through Djibouti and Somaliland toward Ethiopia. [43][edit] Discovery of oil

As of 2009, no oil has been found in the Ogaden. The U.S. Energy Information Administration has been quoted as estimating that Ethiopia has 428,000 barrels of crude oil reserves. However, experts believe the real prize is the estimated 4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

This potential has drawn large companies such as Petronas from Malaysia and Lundin Petroleum, based in Sweden, to the inhospitable and nearly roadless Ogaden. [44][edit] Other ONLF attacks

An ONLF grenade attack on a cultural gathering in Jijiga killed four middle school students in May 28, 2007. In a separate attack, fifty civilians were injured, including the regional president Abdullahi Hassan, and three artists were killed in May 28, 2007 by the ONLF.[31]

An ONLF attack on the town of the Debeweyinworeda in the Korahe Zone also left ten civilians dead, including two schoolteachers and a pregnant woman.

Another attack on the town of Shilavo left five civilians dead. An ONLF-planted landmine near Aware in Dagahbour region exploded, killing three civilians traveling in automobile.

Yet another ONLF unit struck in the district of Lahelow near the Ethiopia-Somalia border, targeting members of the Isma'il Gum'adle sub-clan, twelve of whom were slain.[31] Regional security chief Abdi Mohammed Omar asserted that over a two months period, some 200 civilians had been killed by the ONLF.[45]

Ethiopia has been recently accused of human rights abuses. But Ethiopia says there is a double standard on terrorism since the ONLF group has killed many Ethiopians and Western nations have not condemned the killings.[46] Bashir is a family member of the founder of the Ogaden National Liberation Front and Ethiopia has accused him of financing and recruiting for the ONLF. Ethiopia points to another case of Western based Somali suicide bomber Shirwa Ahmed, who lived in Minnesota before going back to Somalia and killing Somali civilians at government and UN facilities. [47]

Ethiopia has been fighting alongside Western government against terrorists, including al Qaeda. But many Ethiopians says terrorists targeting Africans are not being condemned by the West. The ONLF has been accused of killing hundreds of civilians, but the biggest single act has been the killing of 74 Ethiopians and Chinese workers in 2007. [31][48][edit] Notes and references^ As of March 2009. "Ethiopia ONLF rebels 'seize town'". BBC.com. BBC News. 2009-03-09. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7932972.stm. Retrieved 2009-03-09.

^ As of January 2009, the Ethiopian government claims that "the ONLF currently has no armed force in the state while its political existence is facing a great danger."

This tiny Malta-Libya-Miami company keeps showing up in quiet transactions......

-Shimron Issachar

The company is established as a general trading offshore company as defined by the malta international business activities act 1988 and its objects, which are strictly limited to offshore activities and to other such acts as are necessary for its operations from malta as specified in that act, are:

1-to import, export, manufacture, transship, buy, acquire, sell or deal in any other way in any kind of consumer goods and industrial supplies and machinery.

2- to provide marketing, sales, purchasing, management, administrative and technical consultancy to individuals and companies and to assist and promote the setting up of and to invest in industrials, agricultural, mining, fishing and maritime transport and related projects, and to seek out markets for the goods and services provided by such enterprises;

3- to receive and grant royalty, license or similar property of any kind and to enter into agreements for this purpose.

Monday, August 24, 2009

The Somali War Seems to be back at Nil to Nil. The Islamists were thrown back, and now AMISOM has been thrown back; as both settle into Ramadan. I think it likely that New AMISON commanders are doing exporitory patrols to see how the Isalmists respond and to harden their troops for offensive action to come.The Islamists continue to resupply.You can read the details below from Hiiraan

-Shimron Issachar

Islamist militants in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, launched a pre-dawn raid on African Union peacekeepers Friday, triggering fierce fighting that killed more than 20 people. Meanwhile, government-led military efforts to take control of insurgent-held towns in the country's central and southwestern regions have reportedly suffered setbacks.

As Somalis prepare to observe the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, al-Shabab and Hisbul Islam rebels appeared to have made good on their vow to mark the start of Ramadan with intensified attacks against the government and the African Union mission in Mogadishu known as AMISOM.

Residents in Mogadishu say hundreds of Islamist insurgents, led by al-Shabab, fired weapons and mortars at an African Union base in the south of the city. AU peacekeepers and government troops fought back with tank fire and mortars, sending residents diving for cover in their homes and in the streets.

The fighting quickly spread to several districts in south Mogadishu.

It is on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations, and on Friday, Australia put the group on its terrorism list following the discovery of a suicide attack plot linked to the group.

For nearly two years, al-Shabab spearheaded efforts to expel Ethiopian troops from Somalia. Since Ethiopia's withdrawal in January, al-Shabab began cooperating with another Islamist group called Hisbul Islam to topple the U.N.-backed, but weak transitional federal government, and to force more than 5,000 AU peacekeepers from Uganda and Burundi to abandon their mission. Hundreds of foreign extremists are also believed to be taking part in the fighting.

Recently, AMISOM has begun taking a more active role in the conflict, patrolling far beyond their bases, and at one point, fighting alongside government forces. On Thursday, Hisbul Islam spokesman Muse Abdi Arale said militants had repelled an alleged AMISOM incursion deep into a rebel-held area.

Arale says AMISOM troops turned around and returned to their bases. AMISOM denied the claim, saying it had a routine patrol.Meanwhile, more clashes have been reported in the central Hiran region, where government forces are reported to have suffered setbacks in recent days.

At least 15 people were killed and 19 wounded Thursday during heavy fighting that began after government troops attempted to seize the town of Bula Burte from al-Shabab. Witnesses there say al-Shabab fought off the offensive, but Bula Burte remains tense.

Separately, Islamist rebels re-took control of the western part of the strategic town of Beledweyne from government troops. Hisbul Islam left western Beledweyne, near Somalia's border with Ethiopia, late last month without a fight. But the group said it had only made a tactical retreat and had vowed to take it back.

The government was embarrassed recently when Somali soldiers in Beledweyne held a violent demonstration demanding to be paid. It is not clear if the incident is in any way related to the government losing control of Beledweyne. But residents say hundreds of Ethiopian troops have poured into the eastern part of town to set up military bases.

There has been no comment from the Somali government about the alleged arrival of Ethiopian troops. Ethiopia has denied persistent reports that Ethiopian troops are actively engaged in Somalia's civil war.

On Thursday, government and pro-government forces suffered similar losses in Somalia's southwestern Gedo region. Hisbul Islam re-took the town of Luq from government troops, and al-Shabab re-captured a town it lost to an armed pro-government religious group called Ahlu-Sunna Wal-Jama'a two days ago.

Ahlu-Sunna Wal-Jama'a is a Sufi Muslim group that took up arms against al-Shabab last year. But Somalis say some of its members are believed to be Somali factional leaders with close ties to

Friday, August 21, 2009

Proving once again how difficult it is to carry out a global war on terror, Viktor Bout, an arms dealer considered a security threat to the U.S. and caught in a daring DEA sting, will remain in Thailand for now.

The DEA worked for months to steer the Bout sting to a country with an extradition treaty with the United States. After coaxing Bout out of Russia, plans to nab him in Romania fell through when Bout failed to secure a visa. Thailand presented itself as an option.

“Thailand was a contingency plan,” explains Michael Braun, former DEA chief of operations and the man who was in charge of the sting operation that took down Bout. “We coordinated with our Thai counterparts and other U.S. agencies. Viktor agreed to meet with our undercover agents in Thailand. In hindsight I don’t look back. I don’t believe we made any mistakes. Thailand appeared to be the very best option.”

“Am I suspect? I spent 34 years in law enforcement, so I’m naturally suspect,” says Braun. “Open source reports say that the Russian government has offered sweetheart arms deals and sweetheart oil deals to the Thai government.”

“The DEA targeted Bout at the request of the U.S. National Security Council,” says Braun. “They saw him as a significant security threat. They said to us, ‘Please apply your trade craft to targeting this man.’ We went after him and succeeded in grabbing the guy. My biggest fear behind all this? If he was perceived as national security threat then, what about now? You think he’s not going to hold a grudge?”

"Today, we are announcing, in a coordinated action, major drug-trafficking charges against 43 individuals, including cartel leaders, members and associates in two federal districts."

"Specifically, we allege that these defendants shipped multi-ton quantities of narcotics into the United States through various established smuggling corridors, and then, through a network of affiliated distributors, dispersed these drugs into cities and neighborhoods across the country.

The indictments unsealed today outline nearly two decades of criminal activity by these cartels and their leaders here in the United States, as well as in Mexico and other countries.

These cartels are not abstract organizations operating in far-off places. They are multi-billion dollar networks funneling drugs onto our streets. What invariably follows these drugs is more crime and more violence in our communities. The audacity of the cartels' operations is matched only by their sophistication and their reach.

But today, because of the dedicated work of our DEA and ICE agents, the diligence of our prosecutors in Chicago and Brooklyn, and the support of our courageous law enforcement partners in Mexico, we are able to charge leaders and members of these insidious cartels for their heinous crimes here in the United States.

Our friends and partners in Mexico are waging an historic and heroic battle with the cartels as we speak. This is not a fight that we in the United States can afford to watch from the sidelines.

The stakes are too high and the consequences too real for us. We will continue to investigate, charge, and arrest the cartel leaders and their subordinates, and we will continue systematically to dismantle and disrupt their far-reaching and dangerous operations.

I will let the two U.S. Attorneys with us today describe the charges in more detail, but suffice it to say that the criminal conduct alleged in these indictments did not take place solely in Mexico.

Rather, it played out right here in our own backyards.

For example, in Chicago we have arrested and charged individuals who allegedly worked directly with Mexican cartels to receive thousand kilo shipments of drugs, and then dispersed those drugs into the Chicago community and throughout the country.

We have learned from previous successful experiences in fighting organized crime that we must not only go after the leaders of these cartels, but also seize the money that funds their operations.

That is why in these indictments, we are seeking forfeiture of more than $5.8 billion in illegal drug proceeds.

If we can suffocate their funding sources, we can cripple their operations.Breaking up the Mexican drug cartels and stemming the flow of drugs and illegal firearms across the Southwest border is a top priority for this Justice Department. And we have made important strides in this fight:

Earlier this year, an extensive investigation of the Sinaloa Cartel known as Project Xcellerator led to the arrest of more than 750 people in the United States and Mexico and the seizure of more than $59 million in illegal drug proceeds.

We have rolled out the President's National Southwest Border Counternarcotics Strategy to stem the flow of illegal drugs and their illicit proceeds across the border.

We have directed much-needed resources to break up the cartels and to support border-related initiatives. Just last month, for example, I announced $8.7 million in Recovery Act funds for California communities to use in fighting crime and drug trafficking as part of our Southwest Border Strategy.

We have formed an arms trafficking working group, led by the Criminal Division, to tackle the critically important problem of weapons flowing across the border into Mexico.

We have formalized agreements with our partners at the Department of Homeland Security and with the government of Mexico to increase cooperation as we carry out our fight on several fronts.

And we have brought charges against high-level Mexican leaders of the Gulf Cartel, now known as the "Company," and 15 of their top lieutenants for drug trafficking-related crimes.

All of these efforts have been in addition to the numerous investigations, prosecutions, arrests, and interdictions that our prosecutors and agents carry out across the country every day.

Today's charges demonstrate that we will not stop until these violent criminal enterprises have been eliminated. And we will continue to stand with our partners in Mexico as we carry on this vital fight.

On that note, I would like to acknowledge President Calderon and his administration for all that they continue to do in leading Mexico's fight against violent narco-traffickers.

Boumerdes - Despite ongoing Islamist militant attacks, Algerians relaxing at the seaside are more concerned by the rising cost of meat and vegetables at the start of Ramadan than security."Security is far from being our main concern," said Abdelalik, who sat with his wife at a seafront cafe in Boumerdes, an hour's drive from Algiers, with the Islamic fasting month to begin on Saturday.

"I'm mostly concerned about making it to the end of the month, with Ramadan coming and the start of the school year" set for September 13, he said.

Algerians spend a fortune on food for the traditional breaking of the fast, held every day at sunset during the holy month. And prices of fruit, vegetables and meat all "go up every year during Ramadan" , Abdelalik said.

But not everyone can afford the traditional sumptuous feasts, with 1.2 million disadvantaged families getting help from the state this year.Militant attacks

"Security? That's a funny question. We don't even give it a thought," said a youth, on his way to the town's vast, parasol-spotted beach with three friends.

They walk away from further questions, preferring to make the most of the Mediterranean waters ahead of Ramadan, when daytime bathing is prohibited.

Despite the apparent nonchalance, the area around Boumerdes, along with Tizi Ouzou to the east, are classified "red" because of the number of militant attacks by armed groups including al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqim).

Police are omnipresent on main roads, setting up checkpoints along avenues in Boumerdes which is nevertheless enjoying a real estate boom.

The traffic jams are hellish and resorts along the coast have had their "No Vacancy" signs out since the start of the summer holiday season.

Bombing at a beach

Right up to the last day before Ramadan, families relax in the shade of parasols on one of the beaches at Tigzirt, near Tizi Ouzou, where a policeman was killed by a bombing at a beach observation post days earlier.

The "Delphine" security plan, implemented every year to protect places of summer recreation will remain in place throughout Ramadan.

But "there will not be any special measures" because police "are mobilised throughout the year, whether during Ramadan or any other time," national security director Ali Tunsi said in the run-up the Muslim holy month.

Monday, August 17, 2009

There have been reports claiming that a Group in Australia is associated with the Somali al Shabaab. I have been waiting to see where this falls out, becasue this doesnot fit into their normal way of operating.For the Record, Some in Somalia have denied the Australia Connection - But the Shabaab are signficantly decentralized, and one of the four battlions could do such a move without informing the other.It may be an group recruited by internet, or a dispora connection like the Minnesota Mujahadeen.At the moment, I would say the jury is still out.-Shimron Issachar

PROSCRIBING Somali-based al-Shabaab as a terrorist organisation could force its Australian supporters underground and make monitoring their activities more difficult for police and intelligence agencies, security analysts have warned.

On Tuesday, four men of Somali and Lebanese descent aged between 22 and 26 years, with alleged links to al-Shabaab, were arrested in a joint counter-terror police operation in Melbourne.

The group is accused of plotting a suicide attack on Holsworthy army base in Sydney in which they would have become Islamic martyrs.

Yesterday, Kevin Rudd said al-Shabaab had been considered for listing as a terrorist group in Australia.

But the federal government had not proceeded to list al-Shabaab because it didn't want to compromise Tuesday's counter-terrorism operation in Victoria.

"This has been the subject of some internal deliberation within the government ... for a period of time," the Prime Minister told ABC radio.

In Cairns, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said al-Shabaab's status was under review but no decision had been made to list the organisation as a terror group.

"These things are kept under constant review but, given the events of the last couple of days, it's obviously something we're now giving very serious consideration," Mr Smith said.

Al-Shabaab (The Youth) is a militant wing of the Islamic Courts Union that controlled much of restive Somalia prior to its invasion in 2006 by US-backed Ethiopian forces. Respected national security analyst Allan Behm said there were good reasons for not declaring al-Shabaab a terrorist organisation.

Many of the 5000-strong Somali community are former refugees who fled years of violence and lawlessness but have found it very difficult to integrate.

"This is a community under real stress," he said. "Many of them are not educated, many have not got good employment prospects unless they are educated, they are a very isolated community and they will stick together.

"When communities are in that sort of situation, they can fall victim to a lot of different sorts of things -- alienation and anger."

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Thailand refused to Extradite Viktor Bout to the United States for Prosecution, stating that it was clear that the reason for the US request was clearly political.The US State Department clearly is trying to minimize it. The current Administration only allocates a certain amount of their attention to Africa, and they would rather talk about the Secretary of State's visit to Africa, and her attempt to bring attention to rape being used as a weapon of war in the DRC's civil war, a fruitless, futile excercise, when adressing Arms Trafficking would better serve to end the practice. Let's be clear: Years ago Viktor Bout's arms trafficking equipped the DRC war that is going on, arming the soldiers and rebels using rape as a weapon. Both his trafficking and rape as a weapon are not new African traditions.Yet Rape as a weapon of war seems to be a new horror to the Secreatary's staff, though deeper insde the State Department they know this is very old news in Africa.In the 11 Agust press conference by Phillip J. Crowley of the State Deparment, note that neather he nor the reporter asking the question were aware of the details of the Decision by Thailand not to Extradite Viktor Bout.The refer to him as "the Russian" and the unknown reporter first seem to think Bout had been extradited to Russia.....My point is this Secretary Clinton.... If you really want to stop rape as a weapon of war, bring attention to the arms trafficking in Africa. Your office knows all abou it. It is happening all over, from countries like Romania and Moldavia, paid for by Arabs, Iranians, and even Americans, shipped by European and Dubai based transport companies, facilitated by UAE, Malta, Africa, and Lebanese based businesses, shipped into Mogadishu by Way of Eritrea,, across the Sahara by way of Algiers, Tunisia and Libya. Local funds are still generated by Diamonds and oil.Secretary Clinton, bring attention to these issues, and the ihorror of rape of women as a weapon of war will begin to serve to end these wars, Africa's true needs and agenda. Is t heri anyone on you staff who understands why these wars are going on?Who on your staff suggested that this issue was more imprtant than stopping arms trafficking?" Will bringing attention to to rape in war stop the combatants from doing it?I am not one to complain without solution: So learn a bout it, Secretary Clinton, talk about Trafficking, where it comes from who gest paid, what big and small companies and countries profit from Arms Trafficking in Africa.Talking only about Rape in war shows America to have a shallow understanding insincere concern about African Issues. I know that this is not really the case.There is a Gambian Proverb: A smart opportunist can be an intellectual moron . Please take care not to let the US support illustrate this proverb.Here is a statement from the US State Department about the Viktor Bout Affair:-Shimron Issachar

MR. CROWLEY:

........[ deep in the interview by Mr Crowly of the State Deparmtnet]

QUESTION: Do you have any sort of an understanding that the Russian alleged arms smuggler will not be extradited until the process runs its course? Again, I’m wondering – the Russians sound like it’s all over, of course. We’re waiting for him.

MR. CROWLEY: Well, I think we – we obviously requested the extradition.

QUESTION: I mean to Russia, excuse me.

MR. CROWLEY: Oh, to Russia?

QUESTION: Yeah.

MR. CROWLEY: We would like to see him extradited to the United States.

QUESTION: Yeah, I’m sorry. I misstated. I was wondering if you think he’ll remain in Thailandlong enough for another step or two to be taken in this process.

MR. CROWLEY: Well, let’s take it one step at a time. We’ve got this court ruling. I think the Thai Government will be evaluating its options. Let’s see what the Thai Government decides to do, and then we’ll see what happens after that.

Monday, August 03, 2009

BAMAKO — Leaders of Mali's northern communities agreed Sunday to join the government's fight against Al-Qaeda at their first meeting in a decade, called in a bid to end their conflicts, a participant said.

The meeting brought together representatives from the Tuareg, Arab and Songhai communities of the northwest African country's three regoins.

"It is a reconciliation meeting -- a first in 10 years," said Moussa Maiga, a representative of the Gao region.

"We have also decided to support the Malian government's fight against Al-Qaeda in the Sahel-Sahara strip," Maiga said.

The meeting, which started Saturday, included regional elected officials, prominent members of the community and tribal chiefs in efforts to resolve past conflicts that have on occasion led to deadly clashes.

"We are all insisting on reconciliation after moments of incomprehension," Amed Ag Mahmoud, a regional figure and moderator of the meeting, told AFP.

Mali's arid north has also been the scene of battles between government forces and Al-Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the terror network's north African branch, which has extended its activities beyond Algeria.

President Amadou Toumani Toure announced last month a "total struggle" against the AQIM.According to Mali's army, dozens of people were killed on July 4 during clashes in the Timbuktu region between the army and AQIM fighters.

And on June 17, the Malian army announced that it had killed 26 "Islamist fighters" in the far north of the country.

In recent months, the AQIM has taken four European tourists and two Canadian diplomats hostage in Mali and neighbouring Niger. All have been released, except for a British tourist, Edwin Dyer, who was executed.

One of the UN’s largest international relief efforts is under investigation after it emerged that thousands of sacks of food aid were being diverted from starving refugees and openly sold for profit.

The head of the UN’s $955 million (£580 million) aid operation in Somalia has launched an inquiry after being shown footage showing tonnes of food bearing the World Food Programme(WFP) logo widely on sale in Mogadishu, the capital.

Stacks of bags of maize and wheat and tins of cooking oil — marked “not for re-sale” and bearing the UN stamp — are on sale from ten warehouses and 15 shops in the city’s main market.

About 45,000 tonnes of WFP food are shipped to Somalia from Kenya every month.

Mogadishu traders told Channel 4 News that they bought their supplies straight from UN staff. “We buy [food] aid from WFP staff directly or from people they employ,” one market trader said.

“They take us to the warehouses used by the WFP and let us load our lorries. The goods are freely available and you can buy as much as you like, but we usually buy no more than 500 to 1,000 sacks at a time.

Just a tonne or half a tonne a day can be shifted more discreetly.”

The food could hardly be more needed. More than a million people have been driven from their homes by fighting in the area, including 117,000 thought to have fled from Mogadishu in the past month.

UN officials say that civil war and the worst drought in a decade have created “near-famine conditions”, with Somalia ranking alongside Darfur as the worst humanitarian emergency in the world.

The WFP is charged with feeding 3.5 million Somalis — almost half the population — and is struggling to overcome an operational shortfall of more than $84 million over the next six months.

Britain gave the WFP £9 million for Somalia last year through the Department for International Development and is now deciding whether to give more.

Another market trader described how he invented fictional refugee camps, which were then allocated food that he could sell.

“You go to the WFP office and fill in an application form to create a camp,” he said. “

When we receive the food, we give out some and then divide the rest between ourselves and the WFP guys who negotiated the deal.”

The scam is, according to Mark Bowden, the former British diplomat who is now the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, “disturbing”. He is urging the WFP to speed up its inquiry.

Many of the sacks for sale are marked: “A gift from the American people”, with the US government’s aid agency, USAID, providing $274 million last year in food and in humanitarian assistance for Somalia.